PULLMAN, Wash.–R. Wes Leid, professor of animal sciences, has been appointed interim vice provost for research at Washington State University, effective immediately.
Announcing the appointment, Provost Gretchen Bataille said, “I am extremely pleased Professor Leid has accepted this important assignment. He is an excellent scientist with the experience necessary to advance the university’s efforts in scholarship and research.”
Appointment of a search committee to begin identifying candidates to fill the position on a permanent basis will be announced soon, Bataille added.
The research post had been held by Robert Smith, who resigned in August for a similar position at the University of Connecticut. Bataille earlier appointed Karen DePauw interim dean of the Graduate School, a position also held by Smith.
“In filling the graduate dean and research vice provost positions with two different people, we are strengthening each of these key areas for WSU,” Bataille said. “WSU is one of the state’s two public research and doctoral degree-granting universities. This new structure for us more closely mirrors the approach used by other major research institutions.”
Leid, a native of Waitsburg, joined the WSU faculty in 1980 as an associate professor of veterinary microbiology and pathology. He was appointed full professor in 1985. He became a member of the animal sciences faculty in 1995.
He earned a doctorate in microbiology from Michigan State University in 1973, after receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Central Washington University.
Leid received a post-doctoral fellowship in immunology from the National Institutes of Health and was an instructor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School before coming to WSU.
His research interests include reproductive immunology and biochemistry, and cell and molecular biology of inflammation. He is a member of the American Association of Immunologists, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Society of Leukocyte Biology and Society for the Study of Reproduction.
This year, Leid received the Honors Program Faculty Award for excellence in teaching, and for contributions and service to Honors students.
Leid says he approaches the new assignment with “a great deal of optimism and a sense that I can make a difference. I expect to spend the next few weeks listening to the concerns of faculty across the campus and at the branches to see how we can make their lives easier and more productive. I believe the university is stronger in all areas than when I came here 17 years ago, and I would like to make a contribution to it becoming better still.”
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